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Man Denied Computer By Dell (article)

Some gun owners are outraged over Dell Computer's [NASDAQ : DELL] initial refusal to sell a notebook computer to a Pennsylvania man because his company deals in combat handguns.

According to Jack Weigand, his Feb. 13 telephone order for a Dell Inspiron notebook PC was automatically canceled days later by the computer maker's export department because his company's name, Weigand Combat Handguns Inc., raised a red flag.

"They told me they were afraid I would use the computer for illegal purposes. Somehow I was singled out," said Weigand, who is president of the American Pistolsmiths Guild and a gunsmith instructor for the National Rifle Association, in an interview today.

Weigand said he was informed by a Dell salesperson that the company implemented an order screening system following the Sept. 11 attacks on America.

"If computers are dangerous, the scary thing here is that I could have just walked up to Best Buy and purchased one," said Weigand, who holds a federal firearms license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearm's National Licensing Center.

After complaining to the Dell sales rep, Weigand received an apology by e-mail from a supervisor who offered to put his order through. But Weigand said he has no interest in doing business with Dell any longer.

In a statement, Dell chairman Michael Dell today confirmed that the company cancelled Weigand's order "to give us enough time to follow up with the customer and be assured that the sale would be in compliance with U.S. export law." According to Dell, the computer firm erred in not contacting Weigand and did not live up to its service standards.

On Tuesday, Weigand posted a description of his run-in with Dell at his Web site and in three online forums, including one for Ruger pistol owners.

The message, which was redistributed on Internet newsgroups and by e-mail, concluded with a virtual call to arms.

"I for one am sick and tired of people assuming just because we are involved with firearms that we are doing something illegal. I also do not believe Dell deserves our business if this is how they intend to treat us," said the posting.

Messages of support from other gun owners have subsequently poured in to Weigand's e-mail in-box and to online message boards.

"What's next, background checks on Dell Computers?" wrote one participant who called for a boycott of the company in a newsgroup for gun owners in Dell's home state of Texas.

According to Weigand, his encounter with Dell has touched a nerve with many gun owners.

"People in the firearms community are passionate about our rights. There's been a lot of talk about profiling lately, and this incident is viewed by many as an instance of that," said Weigand in the interview.

Dell's leader said the company does not discriminate against any business, "regardless of the products or services they sell, nor do we discriminate against individual consumers. We do, however, sometimes make mistakes, as we did in this case."

Weigand's firm, which he described as a two-man operation, performs customizing, such as adding scope mounts, on several makes of firearms. After Sept. 11, Weigand said he will no longer do business with customers outside the U.S.

I feel this sort of thing should not happen. Computers should be aviable to all who can afford them to buy. Even libarys let complete strangers basicly use their computers with no type of logging the use of whos on the computers at what time. Dell is gonna get spanked for this one..
Please feel free to show ur input.. i feel this is a interesting topic to be debated.

_NetSyN_

[shadow]i have a herd of 1337 sheep[/shadow]
Worth should be judged on quality... Not apperance... Anyone can sell you **** inside a pretty box.. The only real gift then is the box..

oh wonderful, thank you oh so dearly netsyn for pasting 1) old news 2) an article that was discussed in length on a thread prior. perhaps you missed it when you quit antionline for a couple of hours while you were at high school.

SOCKBANDIT seriously just grow up kid

This fourm is called General Chit Chat, its for General chit chat... ill talk about legit things i want to and if u don like it put me on ignore... ur being a little stalking ***** basicly i really think u need to grow up and find a fourm that more suits u on another site because u have yet to do anything but complain since uve been here... Ive made friends here and ive made legit good post unlike u, so untill u start doing sumthing other then being a moron i dont think u truley do have room to talk.
its basicly the pot calling the kettle black..

_NetSyN_

[shadow]i have a herd of 1337 sheep[/shadow]
Worth should be judged on quality... Not apperance... Anyone can sell you **** inside a pretty box.. The only real gift then is the box..

*yawns*

*pulls out a pair of rulers*

Ok boys, lets just measure it and get on with our lives. *smirks*

Maybe it was an old post, dunno, never read it. I thought it was interesting. Scary perhaps, but interesting. it's interesting, it's relevant and it's on the right forum. Who cares if its old? Not all of us have been around for a long time.